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[arclightning]

un: mako

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in person

[royalfling]

[ Hi, husband. Your husband is screaming and and throwing his Relic across the room, actively freaking out on the little couch in their hobbit hole.

If Mako happens to pick up the phone, he'll find this picture on the screen, and this post if he goes back one screen ]

[arclightning]

What the f—

[ Guess whose impeccable reflexes at least let him catch the thing as it goes flying? Mako snatches it out of the air—or, more accurately, chases it comically for a few seconds and then snatches it—and stares down at the picture.

And then at the thing that prompted the picture.

And then, finally, with one brow drifting dangerously high into his hairline, at Wu. ]

Wu.

[royalfling]

Mako! My limbs are going to fall off! I need to, to, to find people to show that to so my limbs don't fall off!

[ Don't mind your husband having a meltdown on the couch. He grabs at his own wrists, holding desperately onto them ]

[arclightning]

[ Okay. Okay, alright, Mako can handle this, he's handled things like this before with Wu specifically. He pockets Wu's relic, rounds the couch and drops to sit on the coffee table in front of him, his brows still pinned high. ]

Give me your hands.

[royalfling]

[ Wu lets out a whine, but he trusts Mako and very gingerly gives him his hands, even if he can't quite look at them, tears in his eyes ]

I already have horns, I can't lose my hands to! I, I'm never going to be the same, Mako!

[arclightning]

[ Mako squeezes his hands, gently enough, letting his thumbs press into the soft skin at Wu's wrists. ]

I want you to take a second. Look at me, take a breath.

[ He's being so gentle. This is probably suspicious, but Mako waits until Wu has done that and then continues, soft and dry: ]

Now really, really think about this one.

[royalfling]

[ He sniffs and does as he's told, looking at Mako, and--

well that isn't very helpful ]

I am thinking about it, and it's awful! Horrifying! I don't want to lose my hands, Mako!

[arclightning]

[ Okay, so we're not quite in the space for critical thinking yet. That's fine, Mako can get them out of this. He just wants Wu to do some of the work to get there. It's an instinct, practically.

He squeezes Wu's hands again, bringing his attention back to Mako. ]

Think about it for a second. What evidence do you have that something's actually gonna happen to your hands?

[royalfling]

That picture! Her hand fell off! [ He looks pleadingly at Mako, begging him to understand ] And she said--she said it would happen!

[arclightning]

So your evidence here is that one person, who is clearly trying to get you to do something, told you something was true, and then proved it herself, on herself.

[ Stay with him Wu we can do this ]

Do your hands feel any different?

[royalfling]

...no. [ Okay, he's coming around, a little. He looks down at his hands, then up at Mako, then away, balling his hands into fists. ] She was-- I've been had!

[arclightning]

[ Theeeere we go. Hey, good job, buddy, you stopped panicking and used your critical thinking skills. Mako is so proud. ]

There he goes. Remember what I was saying about taking people at their word? Here, or anywhere? It's a really good thing you're not a king anymore.

[royalfling]

Hey! I would have been fine--!

[ No, he knows he wouldn't have been, but he also knows that Mako is teasing him now, and he shoves weakly at Mako's ribs. That smile is kind of cute, though, which is just more annoying. He pouts harder ]

Mako! I, it was scary! Isn't it better to be, to be vigilant?!

[arclightning]

[ The pout is pretty cute, too, but Mako's unrelenting: Wu has to know better than to fall for every single bit of info somebody gives him, even if he's not exactly in a position to do anything with that misinformation but shriek at Mako.

...he does relent just a little, reaching up to wrap an arm around Wu's thin shoulders to pull him onto the couch. ]

Yeah, there's a difference between keeping an eye out for trouble and panicking. What you did was take somebody at face value. Honestly, might be a bigger mistake. Trusting people is what got Bolin into probably seventy-five percent of the trouble I had to get him back out of. It's definitely what got him kidnapped by Amon. Think of it like... uh, alright. You know me, right? Pretty well.